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Score No Points for the little people…

John Anderson | August 3, 2008

I wrote this letter to the gang at The Consumerist tonight:

Ok, so tonight, I went to the movies, and was confronted again by some low-level worker asking for ID when making a credit card purchase. I explained to the employee that the card was signed, and that was all that was necessary.

Suffice it to say that the employee and her not-legal-to-drink “manager” both said that I could not make the purchase without providing ID. I refused, and went into my movie leaving the overpriced popcorn and soda behind.

When I got home from the movies, I dutifully called the 800 number on the back of my MasterCard, and explained the situation to the rep on the other end. I asked that I be notified via mail that the merchant was indeed contacted about this issue, at which time I was placed on hold.

About 10 minutes later, a “supervisor” came on the phone, and I again explained the situation. She replied that it was their policy that they “preferred that merchants asked for photo ID”. I repiled that contractually, that was not the case. I further explained that since identity theft is so rampant, I refuse to show my ID unless legally required. She put me on hold, and then came back that her supervisor said the same thing, that it was a good thing(tm) that I wasn’t allowed to make my purchase without providing photo id.

Exasperated, I told the agent that I felt like I was having the same conversation I had at the movie theater verbatim, and that she should talk to her HR representative for proper training.

So, Consumerist friends, how on earth do we get these people to understand the very basic contracts that define the relationships between merchant and processor? How do we communicate to these people that we won’t risk identity theft to buy an overpriced bag of popcorn.

I’m off to fill out the MasterCard form on their website, but again, I feel defeated.

Any advice?

John

The bottom line is that merchants are REQUIRED to accept valid, signed cards regardless of the availability of photo ID. To those who say that it is for my protection, I would reply that since I am protected automatically from any invalid charges, it certainly is NOT for my protection.

Let’s see what MasterCard says. Oh, and consumerist.com won’t reply, it’s like writing an e-mail into a black hole.

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2 responses

Call 1-800-300-3069 1 3 0 to do a telephone complaint

thelowpriceleader | August 5, 2008

Call 1-800-300-3069 1 3 0 to do a telephone complaint to MasterCard. I do this rather than using the online form.

To compain to Visa, call 1-800-Visa-911, 1 6 (card number)# and ask to file an incident report against a merchant for requiring ID. You will get people there sometimes who tell you the same thing your bank did when you called them.

You could also send an email to the movie chain’s corporate office.

I would suggest including the following evidence in your email:

The procedure to process a Visa transaction is shown here:
http://usa.visa.com/merchants/risk_management/card_present.html?it=c|/merchants/risk_management/index.html|Card-Present

The procedure outlined above states to swipe the card and obtain a signature and then verify the signature on the card against the signature on the receipt.

Also from Visa’s website, Visa’s rules below on Print Page 29 or PDF page 34 of this document: http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/card_acceptance_guide.pdf state that merchants may not make identification a condition of sale.

MasterCard rules are similar.

Below is in regards to the MasterCard “Chargeback Guide” located at: http://www.mastercard.com/us/wce/PDF/TB_CB_Manual_5_08.pdf

Please read pages 76-78 of the “Chargeback Guide” which explain acceptance procedures and discuss when to call for authorization. Note that nowhere in the acceptance procedures does it say to ask for ID, and nowhere in the reasons to call for authorization does it say to do so when a cardholder refuses to provide ID.

Item 7 on page 77 discusses “unique transactions” and says that the merchant is to request identification for those transactions (excluding truck stop transactions). If you go to pages 97-99, it shows what type of transactions qualify as “unique transactions.” The transactions I have had to show ID for at your establishment do not fall into the “unque transactons” listed on pages 97-99.

Now moving to page 131 is the “honor all cards” rule which states that a merchant cannot have a policy in place that discriminates against customers who pay with a Card. By requiring customers who are paying with a Card to show ID, you are discriminating against a customer who pays with a Card by requiring them to present identification which you do not have non-Card customers do.

Also on page 131 is the “cardholder identification” rule which states that a merchant may not refuse to complete a transaction solely because a cardholder has refused to provide additional identification.

Also on MasterCard’s website is a “Contact Us” page that records reports of merchants who are not following their terms which can be found here: http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/contactus/merchantviolations.html